Kids at the Pool
by GinnyXinny
Summary: The Kids from Room 402...all grown up! They gather for a reunion at Arthur's seaside resort hotel and unexpected things ensue between the characters.


"Kids" at the Pool

Arthur Kenneth van der Wall checked the time. "It's almost noon" he announced to his aunt. "The first customers must be on their way now."

"I hope so, sweetie."

"Thanks for giving me this job at your seaside resort hotel. I think I should ask for less money from now on-" Arthur's aunt smiled with a hopeful glee.

"But not until I get my share. Returns should be fixed at ten percent. You must agree, that's excellent!"

"Ten? We agreed on five percent!"

"Don't forget the call I made to our lifejacket sponsor." Auntie rolled her eyes, but she remained silent. She always had a soft spot for her favourite nephew and thus, she did not feel the need of reminding him that the sponsor was actually his own father.

Arthur flashed a sinister smile and stroked the cat on his lap.

Nancy Francis and Penny Grant were strutting towards Arthur's hotel.

"Hey, if we get too cold from swimming and too hot from sunbathing, we can go to my house and watch the old movie I really LOOOVE, Moulin Rouge! You know that bohemian character? He's soo hot and his voice, OMG! Then we can paint our nails, by the way I prefer red-"

"That's so sweet of you, Nancy, but I don't think we will have time for that… I'm just going there to arrange the swimming organization for the the kids from "Save The Children". The Starving Orphans-Pray For A Wish Foundation has sadly went bankrupt a few years ago, but I found this new charity!"

"Really? I'm thinking of finding another foundation with you and I'll name it "Francis & Grant Corp and we will produce BEAUTACIOUS make up products! We will graduate this year so we can find it no later than next year-"

But Penny was already scurrying towards the manager of an orphanage and when she reached him, they made their way to Arthur. Deserted, Nancy sighed and changed her posture to look cooler. It had been almost eight years since Penny, herself, Jessie, Vinnie, Polly('yuck!' uttered Nancy) and all the others had been in Room 402, but they were still meeting on a regular basis. They were all in the same school as before and nothing much had changed; Nancy was still chasing after Penny, Polly was still a teacher's pet(though Nancy and her girl troupe did feel like Polly and Freddie had the hots for each other) and Jessie and Vinnie were still complete idiots. However, Nancy felt a hot chocolate-like feeling that she had for a while whenever she thought of Vinnie. This was nothing like her crush on The Sidewalk Boys, she thought as she tried to settle the butterflies. Indeed her liking for Vinnie was completely unwanted. They had tried out back then when they were kids, and her experiences warned her that he was too immature.

Vinnie Nasta and Jessie McCoy were spread out at the back of Mr. Nasta's new BMW, playing the PSP edition of Space Beasts-Volume VIII. Of course they were also quite obsessed with Counter Strike and Warcraft, but they still tracked down the new editions of the Space Beasts for the sake of its nostalgia.

"You know what, I kinda missed the days when we were playing pranks on the Principal Bonehead and Freddie… I know the class gathered a few months ago but we were actually cooler when we were just kids." Vinnie sighed.

"Whoa, bro, since when you are so deep?"

"Since I went 'deep' inside Molly Farrell." said Vinnie, grinning. He did feel grown up ever since he dated Molly, which was two years ago.

"Son, gals are swarming around you as if they're a hive of honeybees." exclaimed Mr. Nasta. "And I always thought you had an IQ of a dog." Vinnie could tell that he was very proud under his worried façade.

"I guess it's animal magnetism, then." darted Jessie. He was not even remotely interested in girls, he was hopelessly obsessed with video games.

"And four days of workout per week." added Vinnie. "We are there, Pops. It will be good to see Arthur again, although my wallet doesn't think so."

Mr. Nasta drove off while Jessie and Vinnie made their way to Arthur.

"Hey Arthur!"

"Welcome, guys."

"The hotel looks pretty cool, but we know who are we speaking to, so tell the costs first. "

"Very well then, every dive costs three dollars and every overarm costs 1 dollar. I'm only in charge of the swimming pool, so you'll have to learn about the hotel prices from Auntie."

As Vinnie and Jessie stared open mouthed, Arthur quickly darted: "Hey relax, I was just kidding! Every overarm costs only 50 cents!"

When he saw their expressions he said: "Ok, ok it's 20 dollars daily."

Just then, they heard an awfully familiar yodeling:

"Ichiba- ichi- you- ichi-ni- ichi- you! Hello, my friends! Yodelli-hou!"

"Run for your lives!" yelled the trio and they hid behind the bar.

Polly McShane appeared near the pool wearing hipster glasses, carrying a bag of spoons. She shot sneaky glances to her sides, then she shrugged and continued yodeling while going inside the hotel building.

"Whoa, that was close! I think I'll go for a swim 'cause that Polly made me sweat with fear!" said Vinnie. He quickly stripped himself off his t-shirt and jeans and elegantly jumped in the pool.

"You have an audience, Vinnie!" announced Jessie, signing to the direction of Nancy who was standing there in awe. When she came back down to earth, she quickly put on her haughty persona.

"What audience are you talking about Jessie? I was just looking for a good sunbed."

"Sure you were. Whatever, let's swim!"

"No Jessie, it won't be cool to jump in the pool like a vagabond, I'll first put on my expensive sunscreen from Body Shop, and then…"

"OK, OK, no details please." Then Jessie hit the surface of the pool like a nuclear bomb, splattering all over the place.

"You'll never grow up." muttered Nancy, shaking her head. She lied on a sunbed as seductively as she could, then she began to enjoy the summer breeze. She quickly calculated the impression she gave off: Victoria's Secret bikini, check. Ray Ban sunglasses, check. A beautatious hat from H&M, check. Then she plucked up the courage to shoot a side glance to Vinnie: he did not seem to care neither about her arrival, nor her beautiful body lying on a sunbed.

This was not true.

Vinnie had actually seen Nancy coming and that was why he jumped into the pool so quickly: First, to make sure Nancy saw his abs and second, to avoid talking to her. When Jessie yelled: "You have an audience!" Vinnie grinned foolishly and he stretched his body as far as he could. He could hear his brain cells buzzing while he swam across the Olympic pool with long strokes. He knew Nancy was a little conceited and snobbish for his tastes and he also knew she had actually no interest in him when they dated years ago. However, he could not help his insides melting whenever he saw that beautiful and hard-to-get girl. Nancy's frizzly hair was now transformed into orange ringlets and she had a long, slim body and she developed night-coloured bambi eyes. But there was something else that fascinated Vinnie; she had an amazing quality that he could not exactly figure out. She had an elegant charm but with an innocent, soft side that she did not show very often. Or something like that. Then he heard Nancy calling him: "Vinnie! I must say something to you!"

Arthur was happily counting the hundred dolar bills he made when Penny approached him.

"Hi Arthur! Can I have a second please?"

Arthur grunted: "About that charity? Yeah, what about it?"

"Um, I thought I could bring the children here in a week or less but I'm not exactly sure about those prices…"

"Whoa, Penny, I did not know you would have the cruelty to deprive people of their money!" Arthur said while grinning.

Penny chuckled : "Yes, I didn't know either. But I have to make sure that our budget matches with our expenses."

When Arthur was preparing to tell her that she must find another pool, he found himself saying:

"Of course, Penny, if you will be a long-time member I can arrange something. How about 600 dollars of payment annually? No charges for the orphanage members, by the way."

"That's quite approppriate, Arthur, thank you! You're so kind!" Penny waved and quickly left to change. As she took nice and small steps, Arthur found himself rewinding Penny's chuckle; it was like a thousand golden windbells multiplying and echoing in his head to no end. It's even better than the hustle of dollar bills, he thought. Shaking his head, he went inside the hotel to get as far away from her as possible.

Polly began to polish her spoons at the hotel lobby. However, she was wiping her new favourite baby, Mr. Glimmer a little too forcefully today. At this particular day, her thoughts were occupied by a certain adorable, shiny-glassed black guy. As she was re-living the other day where he and Polly were alone in their class(they were at the topmost class due to their high grades) and she felt like her plans to marry a Lithuanian might slightly change.

Just then, she saw Freddie by the pool, talking to Arthur. Not surprisingly, she made a beeline towards them. She saw Arthur warning Freddie but he did not seem to be too disturbed…

Vinnie got out of the pool immediately and rushed towards Nancy without even realizing it. "What is it?" he asked, a little too breathlessly.

"I have to talk to you." said she, with a weird and blazing look in her eyes.

They did not dare looking at each other's eyes while walking towards the shower cabinets.

"What is it?" asked Vinnie.

"Listen, Vinnie, I always knew we had something against each other that both of us couldn't shake off, maybe even for years and…"

"Nancy, both of us know I want you like hell… but we can't do it."

"Yeah, I know, there is too much history, but we have to tie this thing to an end because I don't know about you, but I can't take this anymore."

"You have been always… different for me, I don't know, maybe I was seeing you in every girl I dated but…"

"Hey, what are you doing, trying to drive me crazy saying that you are a womanizer?"

"I don't plan on anything, I just think I should be honest right now. I know you hope that we will kiss on the floor after a heated argument… but I won't give in to you. I just can't."

"Hey don't get your ego so balooned up, Vinnie Nasty. I didn't forget how you cheated on me even when we were ten year old kids!"

"Then why did you want to talk to me? Sorry, Nancy, I know a part of you wants to initiate a relationship, but I also didn't forget how you used our relationship to boost your popularity… You didn't give a shit about me!"

"We are moving, Vinnie."

There was a horrible silence that applied pressure to their lungs, chests and backs.

"No." Vinnie uttered, he could not feel his limbs anymore. Nancy merely stared at him for a few seconds.

"My mom found a job near Boston, partly because my grades are good enough to apply to the Boston Academy. She informed me yesterday. You are the only person that knows now."

"When?" Vinnie managed to mumble.

"A month later." Their gazes intensified as they both felt flames spreading from near their throats.

"I wanted to say goodbye and see you for one last time. After all, it's summer holiday and we might not see each other again-"

Before she could continue, she was interrupted in the most beautiful way. Vinnie suddenly darted his lips towards Nancy's and a weird noise rised from the back of his throat as he had her up against the wall. Nancy lost control of herself like never before and let her arms wind around Vinnie's neck.

"Don't say that. Ever again. Ever." Vinnie whispered and they continued kissing. Nancy's leg bumped into the lever of the shower and soon the intense water knocked them to the ground. Nancy kissed Vinnie's neck as both of them were half laughing and half crying.

"See, I'm always right, Vinnie." chuckled Nancy. "We did kiss on the floor after a heated argument."

They both threw their heads back because of laughing so hard. Suddenly Nancy got up and began to sing:

"It isn't that hard boy, to like you or even love you  
I will follow you down, down, down,  
Why? Cause you're unbelievable  
So if you're going crazy just grab me and take me  
I would follow you down down down, like anywhere, anywhere."

When she paused to breathe, Vinnie just stood there, amazed and broken down.

"One for the money, two for the show  
I love you honey, and so I'm finally ready to go  
How did you get that way? I don't know  
You're screwed up, you're brilliant,  
You look like a million dollar man,  
So why is my heart broke?"

There was a complete silence except for the splashing sounds and cheerful laughters.

"The song is from Lana Del Rey." Nancy uttered to break the smothering silence.

"I will follow you down, my Ancy, anywhere. I love you honey, and so I'm ready to go."

They smiled at each other and walked out of the shower cabinets holding hands.


End file.
